Without a good night’s sleep, your energy level tanks, your mood turns sour, and you lose the ability to make good decisions. If you suffer from frequent nights of tossing and turning, waking up too early, or feeling exhausted without knowing why, you may feel hopeless. However, finding out if you have a sleep disorder may help you find the best solutions for your insomnia. Let’s take a look at the most common sleep disorders and the questions to ask when you wonder, “Why can’t I sleep?” The quiz questions below will help you see if therapeutic treatments may help you sleep better and wake up refreshed.
Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a disorder where you struggle to breathe at night. You can live with this condition without realizing you have it! The severity of sleep apnea may cause other health issues. To see if you may suffer from sleep apnea, answer these questions about your habits:
- Do you SNORE loudly (heard through closed doors)?
- Do you often feel TIRED, fatigued, or sleepy during the daytime?
- Have you been OBSERVED to stop breathing during sleep?
- Are you being treated for, or do you have high blood PRESSURE?
- Is your Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 35? (BMI is your weight in lbs x 703 and then divided by your height in inches x your height)
- Are you over 50 years old?
- Is your neck circumference greater than 40 cm or 15 3/4 inches?
- Were you born as a male?
If you answered yes to more than half of these questions, consider contacting your ENT doctor to set up a sleep study with our sleep clinic. Spending a night under observation with us can help us see whether you may suffer from sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea disorders may affect your overall health. If you struggle with obstructive sleep apnea but don’t seek treatment for the disorder, you risk major health issues. According to Sleep Apnea Statistics, untreated obstructive sleep apnea increases the risk of:
- Heart failure by 140%
- Stroke by 60%
- Coronary heart disease by 30% (1)
Our certified sleep specialists and board-certified ENT doctors work together to find solutions so that you can get your life back.
Classic Insomnia
According to the National Sleep Association, “Insomnia is a sleep disorder that disturbs a person’s ability to fall asleep and/or stay asleep. You may wake up too early or struggle to return to sleep after awakening during the night. Approximately 40 million Americans experience insomnia every year and more than 57 percent of older adults experience a decline in quality of life and overall health due to insomnia.”
We all struggle to sleep well sometimes. Worry, anxiety, emotional turmoil, and more can keep your mind spinning and body exhausted. However, if insomnia rules your waking hours by preventing you from thinking clearly, you may need help. If you suffer from regular bouts of insomnia, then ask yourself this one question.
- Have you awakened too early or struggled to fall asleep at least 3 nights every week for the past 3 months?
If your answer to the question is “yes,” you likely need therapeutic interventions to help you recover from your chronic insomnia. Seeing your ENT doctor is a good first step to finding out what prevents you from falling asleep and staying asleep.
If you don’t know the answer to the above question, consider keeping a sleep diary to notate your sleep habits. A journal can help you see more clearly whether insomnia detrimentally affects your life. Include your daytime symptoms such as drowsiness, lack of ability to concentrate, or increased appetite, weight gain, or other medical issues.
Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is also a common sleep disorder. “Narcolepsy affects an estimated 1 in every 2,000 people in the United States. That’s 200,000 Americans and approximately 3 million worldwide. It is estimated that only 25% of people who have narcolepsy have been diagnosed and are receiving treatment.” (1)
To consider whether you might have narcolepsy, answer the following questions:
- Do you ever face a “sudden loss of muscle tone while awake that leads to weakness and a loss of voluntary muscle control?” (2)
- Do you have dream-like hallucinations as you wake up or fall asleep?
- Are you sleepy almost all day every day and can’t figure out why?
- Do you often lose your ability to stay alert and drift into sleep without meaning to?
- When waking up, do you sometimes feel like you can’t move your body or speak?
- Do you wake frequently during the night but don’t know why?
If you answered “yes’ to at least four of these questions, consider seeing your ENT doctor for a sleep study evaluation. Don’t let a sleep disorder rob your daytimes of energy and vitality. Find out why you can’t sleep and uncover the solutions for your sleep disorder.
Restless Legs Syndrome
“Restless legs syndrome is one of the most common sleep and movement disorders. It affects an estimated 5 to 10 percent of adults and 2 to 4 percent of children in the United States. For unknown reasons, the disorder affects women more often than men. The prevalence of restless legs syndrome increases with age.” (3) Consider whether you suffer from RLS by answering these questions:
- Do you feel burning, itching, or extra-energy sensations in your legs or arms when you lie down and try to sleep?
- Do you toss and turn but “just can’t get comfortable?”
- Can you sometimes feel a bug or many bugs crawling on your arms or legs, but when you look, nothing is there?
- Is your mind sleepy at night, but your body is ready to run?
- Are you excessively sleepy during the day?
If you answered “yes” to four or more of these questions, contacting your ENT specialist for a sleep study makes sense. Restless Leg Syndrome is a condition that responds well to therapeutic treatments when diagnosed. Set up a sleep study today with your ENT doctor to get on the road to better sleep.
We Can Help
No matter what causes you to lose sleep, at Enticare, our sleep specialists can help you find answers. When you set up an appointment to discuss your symptoms, we work with you to devise solutions that work to keep you healthy. Scheduling a sleep study is often a first step on the road to recovery. Seeing how you sleep helps us to diagnose your sleep disorder. Contact us today to start finding out how to sleep well again and wake up once more feeling full of vitality!
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